Flood Surge Has Moved to Zumbro Falls Area

Zumbro Falls, MN (KROC-AM News) - The surge of water from the storms that hit the region early Friday continues to move down the Zumbro River.

The flood crest has reached Zumbro Falls, where the Minnesota Department of Transportation has shut down Highway 63 in both directions. In the meantime, the water receded a little more quickly than expected in the Pine Island area, which allowed MnDOT to reopen Highway 52 this morning. Water from the flooding river completely covered both lanes of the busy connection between Rochester and the Twin Cities Friday afternoon and resulted in a lengthy detour.

The closure of Highway 63 means northbound traffic is being detoured onto Highway 247, then County Road 2 before reconnecting with Highway 63 a few miles south of Lake City.

Google

The Zumbro River appears to be cresting at about 27 feet in Zumbro Falls. That is about a foot above the line where major flooding occurs but is nearly 9 feet below the record flood crest that occurred in September 2010. The National Weather Service is predicting the river will recede to minor flood stage by tomorrow morning and fall below flood stage by early Monday. A flood warning has been issued for nearly all of Wabasha County through mid-morning on Monday.

In Pine Island, where significant flooding occurred on Friday, the Zumbro River crested in the early afternoon at the second-highest level on record at over 21-1/2 feet. It has since dropped into the minor flooding stage and is predicted to drop below flood stage by early Sunday.